Court

Getting behind on blogging and forgot to mention that we had court for little man to change his case from reunification to concurrent reunification/TPR. Previously I had gone to court in my county so the procedure was a little different in this other county. When your case is called only the people interested in that case go into the courtroom. Normally the judge asks who is in the courtroom and as a foster parent we are introduced. However, this judge did not ask so I was not introduced. It was somewhat frustrating for me because the lawyers for the mom and dad and the social worker all stated that they had no contact with the parents. This left open the option that although they sent letters to the parents that perhaps they didn't receive them.

Well, no one talked to me and I do have contact with both the parents. I told the parents when court was and what the plans were. I have several phone numbers for each of them. However, I didn't know how to speak up in court.

The judge did grant the change in the case. After everyone was dismissed I went up to the lawyer for DSS and told him that I had contact information for the parents and phone numbers. The judge heard me and called everyone back into court so my information could go on record. I gave them all my contact over the last month and all the phone numbers so lawyers could try to contact them. I also sent the social worker copies of the tests talking about court.

Next step is for the social worker to file for termination of parental rights. Could take months. For us it means that we have to complete an adoption homestudy. So we are completing the paperwork and asking for references again. We have been called by adoptions and they sent us the application. It has been a while and we have done so many that I don't remember what all we have to do!

Finally, we move forward..